(Un) Economic Peak Oil is what really matters

In several of my recent posts, such as here, here, and here, I have argued that concentrating on the geological peak of oil production is a distraction. What really counts are the severe economic implications for New Zealand and the world economy as oil prices trend upwards and become more volatile. And I have highlighted the substantial impacts on our economy even without global oil production actually peaking, or declining. Production being on a plateau since 2005 has been sufficient.

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Officials Muzzled on Peak Oil?

The government has finally released its Energy Strategy. There are cosmetic changes from the Draft version but it's no surprise that the final Strategy continues to completely ignore the threat of peak oil. 

There were many submissions, including my own, which detailed the raft of recent reports from oil and energy experts, think tanks and government institutions which are all pointing to an imminent supply and oil price crunch. And in 2009 government officials themselves gave strong warnings to Ministers. So since 2009, have the officials been muzzled?

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Oil Royalties a Mirage?

Beside the release of the government's final Energy Strategy was a report from Woodward Partners purporting to estimate the potential royalty income from existing, and yet to be discovered oilfields.

Business cheerleaders such as the National Business Review typically took the most extreme best case guesstimate and trumpeted the report with headlines of a $13 billion bonanza. But if they had bothered to actually read the report they would find that quite different story emerges.

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